Cubs Quick Hits: Jason Heyward Might be Getting a Little Lucky

Jason Heyward enters Monday’s game against the Miami Marlins with a .314 wOBA, which is a substantial improvement over the .282 mark he put up in 2016.

But it might also be a product of a few fortunate hits. Using xStats, a model that converts horizontal and vertical location, exit velocity, temperature, and launch angle, Heyward’s expected wOBA (xOBA) is actually 11 points lower.

A .303 xOBA is not great and it’s much different than his 2016 xOBA of .288 at first glance. Of course, Heyward’s new swing is still a work in progress, and we can visibly see there have indeed been improvements.